Expand-Archive to Screen (Console)

PowerShell Help
1

Hi all, bit stuck with 140 zip files (created by windows 7 backup).
I have to search all of those for a particular file type &
I don’t want to extract them to HDD - just see on screen what’s in what.

Hope that’s clear - any help appreciated.

Cheers Johnboy

2

Do you wnat to do this on a regular base? Does it have to be a script? If not you could try this:

http://www.techkranti.com/2010/03/search-within-zip-files-in-windows-7.html

3

You could do something like this.

$ext = "jpg"
$parentPath = "D:\Support"
Add-Type -Assembly "system.io.compression.filesystem"
Get-ChildItem "$parentPath\*.zip" -Recurse -File | ForEach-Object {
    $files = [io.compression.zipfile]::OpenRead($_.FullName) | Select-Object -ExpandProperty Entries | Where-Object {$_.Name -like "*.$ext"}
    if ($files) {
        "Zip file: $($_.FullName)"
        $files | ForEach-Object {"`t$($_.Name)"}
    }
}
4

Hi Curtis, Many thanks for your interest with this problem.
I’m afraid this is way above my understanding of the language,
I’ve been “playing with” the Read-Archive cmdlet - without much success!
Thanks again.
Regards Malcolm J.

5

Hi Olaf, many thanks for your interest.
This would be a bit cumbersome with 215 .zip files
and would not be much different from opening with winzip.

I am hoping to create a function to do this when I know
a bit more about Powershell - at the current rate of progress
that will be about 2030!!

Thanks again

Regards Malcolm J.

6
This would be a bit cumbersome with 215 .zip files and would not be much different from opening with winzip.
That's the point - when I understood it right you could use the normal windows explorer search to find what you're looking for. You wouldn't have to open all single files for that.
7

I think it is much less hard than you probably think. If you want to start anyway - here are some good starting points:

https://powershell.org/forums/topic/using-csv-files/

8

I am not familiar with read-archive as it is not a native cmdlet. I have made notes on the previously provided coded to indicate what is happening at each step. I hope this helps with the understanding.

#Set variable the extension of the file type you wish to find
$ext = "jpg"

#Set variable for the parent directory that contain .zip files
$parentPath = "D:\Support"

#Add the system.io.compression.filesystem .Net assembly which contains methods for reading .zip files
Add-Type -Assembly "system.io.compression.filesystem"

#Use Get-ChildItem to return all .zip files in the Parent directory, recursively
Get-ChildItem "$parentPath\*.zip" -Recurse -File |

#Use ForEach-Object to perform the additional actions for each .zip file
ForEach-Object {
    #Use the OpenRead method of [io.compression.zipfile], which is made available by the Add-Type command above, to open the current .zip file in readmode.  This returns a object with multiple propeties including an Entries property that contains the list of files in the .zip
    $files = [io.compression.zipfile]::OpenRead($_.FullName) | 

    #Use Select-Object and -ExpandProperty to get just the file list
    Select-Object -ExpandProperty Entries | 

    #Filter the list so that only the files with the extension stored in $ext are returned, and store results in $files
    Where-Object {$_.Name -like "*.$ext"}

    #If files were found
    if ($files) {
        
        #Output the name of the zip file currently being processed
        "Zip file: $($_.FullName)"

        #Output each found file name, preceeded by a tab character
        $files | ForEach-Object {"`t$($_.Name)"}
    }
}

Additionally, it would really be better to build new custom objects and output those to the pipeline for further processing instead of what I’m doing here by just outputing the string results to show in the console. But, I will let you add that if you desire.

9

Curtis Many thanks for your time once again.
I copied your code and made the necessary modification to the $parentPath.
The results are shown below.
PS C:\WINDOWS\system32>
$ext = “jpg”
$parentPath = “L:\JOHN-PC\Backup Set 2017-02-28 160001\Backup Files 2017-03-09 142241”
Add-Type -Assembly “system.io.compression.filesystem”
Get-ChildItem “$parentPath*.zip” -Recurse -File | ForEach-Object {
$files = [io.compression.zipfile]::OpenRead($.FullName) | Select-Object -ExpandProperty Entries | Where-Object {$.Name -like “*.$ext”}
if ($files) {
“Zip file: $($.FullName)"
$files | ForEach-Object {"`t$($.Name)”}
}
}

Exception calling “OpenRead” with “1” argument(s): “End of Central Directory record could not be found.”
At line:6 char:5

  • $files = [io.compression.zipfile]::OpenRead($_.FullName) | Select ...

  • ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    • CategoryInfo : NotSpecified: (:slight_smile: , MethodInvocationException
    • FullyQualifiedErrorId : InvalidDataException

Zip file: L:\JOHN-PC\Backup Set 2017-02-28 160001\Backup Files 2017-03-09 142241\Backup files 6.zip
`tBlueToothKeyboard (2).jpg
`tBlueToothKeyboard.jpg
`tBlueToothKeyboard.jpg
`tDSCF0001.JPG
`tDSCF0003.JPG
`tDSCF0004.JPG
`tDSCF0005.JPG
`tDSCF0006.JPG
`tDSCF0007.JPG
`tDSCF0008.JPG
`tDSCF0012.JPG
`tDSCF0013.JPG
`tDSCF0014.JPG
`tDSCF0015.JPG
`tDSCF0020.JPG
`tDSCF0021.JPG
`tDSCF0024.JPG
`tDSCF0025.JPG
`tDSCF0026.JPG
`tDSCF0027.JPG
`tDSCF0028.JPG
`tDSCF0029.JPG
`tDSCF0030.JPG
`tDSCF0031.JPG
`tDSCF0032.JPG
`tDSCF0033.JPG
`tDSCF0034.JPG
`tDSCF0035.JPG
`tDSCF0037.JPG
`tDSCF0040.JPG
`tDSCF0049.JPG
`tDSCF0050.JPG
`tDSCF0051.JPG
`tDSCF0052.JPG
`tDSCF0053.JPG
`tDSCF0054.JPG
`tDSCF0055.JPG
`tDSCF0056.JPG
`tDSCF0060.JPG
`tDSCF0061.JPG
`tDSCF0084.JPG
`tDSCF0088.JPG
`tDSCF0092.JPG
`tDSCF0093.JPG
`tDSCF0097.JPG
`tDSCF0098.JPG
`tDSCF0099.JPG
`tDSCF0066.JPG
`tDSCF0067.JPG
`tDSCF0068.JPG
`tDSCF0069.JPG
`t_SCF0010.JPG
`t_SCF0010_1.JPG
`t_SCF0010_3.JPG
`t_SCF0010_5.JPG
`t_SCF0015.JPG
`t_SCF0016.JPG
`t_SCF0017.JPG
`t_SCF0018.JPG
`t_SCF0019.JPG
`t_SCF0020.JPG
`t_SCF0021.JPG
`t_SCF0022.JPG
`t_SCF0023.JPG
`t_SCF0024.JPG

PS C:\WINDOWS\system32>

Curtis, again many thanks.

Regards

Malcolm J.

10

It would seem you are running into an issue with a particular .zip file. I would probably add some verbose output to just output the name of the current zip file just before it tries to open it so that you can see which one it is failing on.

IE.

$verbosepreference = "Continue"
$ext = "jpg"
#$parentPath = "L:\JOHN-PC\Backup Set 2017-02-28 160001\Backup Files 2017-03-09 142241"
$parentPath = "D:\Support"
Add-Type -Assembly "system.io.compression.filesystem"
Get-ChildItem "$parentPath\*.zip" -Recurse -File | ForEach-Object {
    Write-Verbose "Attempting to open file: $($_.FullName)"
    $files = [io.compression.zipfile]::OpenRead($_.FullName) | Select-Object -ExpandProperty Entries | Where-Object {$_.Name -like "*.$ext"}
    if ($files) {
        "Zip file: $($_.FullName)"
        $files | ForEach-Object {"`t$($_.Name)"}
    }
}